Here we will share with you our best music apps for kids to help them improve a variety of musical skills. These apps would be suitable for beginners to intermediate players and help improve musical literacy, develop aural skills and rhythm.
No 1. Rhythm Cat
Rhythm Cat is fun game based app that is great for helping children practice their rhythm and sight-reading. It uses standard notation (rhythm only) to create a short piece of music and pupils need to tap the screen in time with the backing track with the correct rhythm.
The games get progressively get harder, adding in more complex rhythms at each level so this is a great app for all abilities!
We love it as it is such a fun way to practice your rhythm sight reading and the backing tracks are fantastic. It is suitable for all instrumentalists and vocalists learning to read standard music notation. Lite version is free or you can buy the full version for £4.99. Available on iOS or Android.
Watch it in action:
No 2. NoteWorks
NoteWorks is one of the most fun apps around for helping children learn how to read music notation. It is ideal for piano pupils as it has the option to use piano keys to select notes but is equally valuable for a guitarist, violinist and singers too as it has the option to just use letter names. It also has all the musical clefs you would ever need; Treble, Bass, Tenor and Alto so even the rarely catered for viola players can join in. With customisable levels to meet pupil needs it is a pain free way to get some extra music reading in. Compatible with apple and android.
No 3. Learn Notes!
Learn Notes is another great note reading app just not quite as 'fun' or 'game like' as NoteWorks. This app uses flashcard style learning to test your knowledge of your note names. What we love about this one, is that you can individually select the notes you would like to practice. This makes it perfect for children in the early stages who perhaps can only read 5 or 6 notes to more advanced players needing to develop speed in their note recognition.
This app is an aural trainer designed to help develop the ear to match pitch. Don't be fooled by the fun characters and funny sounds they sing - THIS IS HARD! Great for even intermediate to advanced musicians who could do with some pitch matching practice.
No. 5 Metronome
Not so much of a game but essential for any pupil practicing in between lessons. Set the metronome to the tempo you would like to practice at and hit play and off you go. This metronome isn't the most complex app out there but it is really user friendly and gets the job done. It still has all the functions you would need such as the ability changing the time signature or tap in the tempo you need. Download it here.
No 6. GuitarTuna
This app is one of our favourites for tuning, guitars, ukulele and bass. We like the fact it has a picture which can be helpful for parents that don't play or know the notes of the string. It is really user friendly, doesn't pick up too much background noise and is very accurate. Definitely a must have for any guitar or ukulele player! Guitar/Bass App Ukulele APP
No 7. ABRSM Aural Trainer
The free version of this app is useful but has its limitations, it at least it allows you to try it before you go all in for the full version at £7.99. If you are a pupil who is working towards ABRSM exams and you plan to continue with this exam board then it really is worth the money. This app fully caters for the development of aural skills that are required as part of the ABRSM exams. The aural test is standard between instruments so it does not matter if you play violin or piano - the same skills are required. Aural is one of the most difficult aspects of musicianship to practice out with the lesson room, so having any support from apps or otherwise in-between lessons to refine those ear training skills is a big win from us! Download it here.
We hope this list of apps has been useful and given you some ideas of what is suitable for your child, pupil or for teachers what would be useful for you to use in your lesson. With a screen share function on many online teaching platforms, these games and apps can easily be added to a lesson.